AMD Postpones Vote on Fab Spinoff

Advanced Micro Devices Inc said on Tuesday that it had postponed a shareholder vote to approve its plan to spin off its manufacturing plants, after failing to obtain the requisite quorum.

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Advanced Micro Devices Inc said on Tuesday that it had postponed a shareholder vote to approve its plan to spin off its manufacturing plants, after failing to obtain the requisite quorum.

Shares of AMD, which competes with Intel Corp in making microprocessors for personal computers, fell 7.2 percent to $2.19 on the New York Stock Exchange.

In October, AMD announced plans to spin off its manufacturing plants into a $5.7 billion joint venture with Abu Dhabi.

Company spokesman Mike Silverman said AMD had moved a bit too quickly to close the transaction, but added that all parties were committed to the deal.

"We pursued an extremely aggressive timeline to close on the shareholder vote," he said, "and in retrospect, we probably moved a little bit too fast."

Only 42 percent of the shares were voted at the special meeting, with roughly 97 percent of those cast voting in favor of the deal, AMD said. The vote was postponed until Feb. 18.

Under the agreement, Advanced Technology Investment Co, an Abu Dhabi state-owned venture capital firm, would invest $2.1 billion for a 55.6 percent stake in the joint venture. Of that investment, $700 million would go directly to AMD, which will hold the remaining stake.

ATIC also committed to investing another $3.6 billion to $6 billion over five years to fund the venture's expansion.

Another Abu Dhabi government company, Mubadala Development Co, will buy 58 million additional shares of AMD and gain a seat on the company's board.